Notice From Autel About Controllers and Compatibility in the Future

[alsey7]

only thing they changed was something with radio transmission

 

[Eagle's Eye Photo]

if your product is under warranty and you are making a valid warranty claim, autel will have the option to repair or replace per the warranty terms. obviously they will not send you a v2 controller because you can't do anything with a v2 controller. they would need to cover the warranty by replacing your broken v1 controller with a v2 controller and replacing your v1 drone with a v2 drone...under warranty. maybe it's a refurb, I dunno. if you inform them you have a v1 livedeck, will they replace it also? I dunno but I think they should.

this is no different than any other product on the market. if you are not under warranty, a good company will take care of you and a bad company will say you're sol. factories burn down, ships sink, parts come up missing....all the time. lots of products go out of existence and that is what warranties and insurance policies are for. the only laws in the usa regarding spare parts that I am aware of has to do with autos. last thing america needs is a bunch of broken cars with no parts. but drones....not so much. the upgrade path for out-of-warranty v1 controllers from autel falls under goodwill.

if you have a lifetime warranty on a product and a decade later the product breaks, companies have been known to replace you with the latest/later model. imo, if you are not under warranty, there is no obligation. luckily the secondary market is not so bad (at this time). autel pilots should plan accordingly.

I never suggested a lifetime warranty... and the potential repair/compatibility issues are across all repairs, not just warranty claims. Also at this time, there is no notification from Autel, whether future firmware updates will continue to be available for the V1.0 platform. Lots of details that are still an unknown... little info, that would fall under the umbrella of "obvious".

 

[kenautelevo2pro]

I never suggested a lifetime warranty... and the potential repair/compatibility issues are across all repairs, not just warranty claims. Also at this time, there is no notification from Autel, whether future firmware updates will continue to be available for the V1.0 platform. Lots of details that are still an unknown... little info, that would fall under the umbrella of "obvious".

I think we will be fine; just a bump in the road.

 

[Eagle928]

Please do email [email protected] (CEO) and [email protected] (so a ticket is registered). I don't think Autel means to destroy their client base and likely made a panicked decision that felt smart (or one would hope).

My note to these two addresses.

As an avid Autel Evo 2 Pro pilot with two of these wonderful drones I wanted to write a quick note to encourage a reconsideration of the planned course of dropping the Evo 2 (V1) and going forward with the Evo 2 (V2) without making the controllers, regular, smart controller, and live deck incompatible going forward. This is more than just about profit.

Autel made a public promise and now Autel is planning to break their solemn promise to their loyal and possible future customers.

If Autel cannot keep their promises they should close their doors, sell off all assets, and get out of this business altogether.

Again; please reconsider your position and planned course forward. I know there's a way if there's a will.

 

[mshmovie]

only thing they changed was something with radio transmission

That's exactly what I hypothesized. Time for v3; a version that supports the v1 and v2 chips even if it ships with a socket to accept the v1 chips when they become available again.

 

[mshmovie]

My note to these two addresses.

As an avid Autel Evo 2 Pro pilot with two of these wonderful drones I wanted to write a quick note to encourage a reconsideration of the planned course of dropping the Evo 2 (V1) and going forward with the Evo 2 (V2) without making the controllers, regular, smart controller, and live deck incompatible going forward. This is more than just about profit.

Autel made a public promise and now Autel is planning to break their solemn promise to their loyal and possible future customers.

If Autel cannot keep their promises they should close their doors, sell off all assets, and get out of this business altogether.

Again; please reconsider your position and planned course forward. I know there's a way if there's a will.

That's succinct and laying it at their feet. They need to fix this.

 

[jbregar]

to be fair, v1 is not eol. customers are free to buy it, they will fly, you will get sw updates, and support....and if it breaks under warranty, autel will honor AND fulfill the terms of the warranty. why do you think the product is eol? because a smart controller and livedeck accessory are no longer being built? you don't need these to fly. v1 is not as powerful as it once was but it's not eol. if you drop your controller in a lake and you are not under warranty, there is still a pretty strong market at this time.

You don’t really understand what End of Life means in the context of a product.

A big part of it is repair parts availability. Autel is making it clear that the radio portion of the V1 drones and controllers will not be manufactured further because they can’t get the parts to do so.

Just because I can get a parts drone or used parts on the secondary market doesn’t negate that. The 1966 Chevy Nova has wide parts availability, but it is most certainly EOL in the eyes of GM.

This is similar to Apple’s CPU transition. How much confidence do you think it would instill in the market for Mac Pros (which are still on Intel) if Apple announced that the next version of macOS would be Apple Silicon only?

Heck, even DJI… the kings of planned obsolescence… kept making parts for the Inspire 1 for more than a year or two after it was released.

I’m not overly angry with this move, but it has shown me that Autel thinks it makes toys rather than professional tools. That’s totally fine and I’ll make my purchase decisions accordingly.

This is REALLY reminiscent of the 3DR Solo for those who were around back then.

 

[mshmovie]

to be fair, v1 is not eol. customers are free to buy it, they will fly, you will get sw updates, and support....and if it breaks under warranty, autel will honor AND fulfill the terms of the warranty. why do you think the product is eol? because a smart controller and livedeck accessory are no longer being built? you don't need these to fly. v1 is not as powerful as it once was but it's not eol. if you drop your controller in a lake and you are not under warranty, there is still a pretty strong market at this time.

Because the marketing promised a smart controller that would work with the drone I bought and the drones I was considering buying.

If I bought 10Gbps network switches from Dell for $18,000 each to support an Enterprise business on the basis of it having an extensible platform that can be improved for years to come, and I have, and Dell changed course impacting the value of my investment, legal would be involved.

This is analogous to that. I bought my E2pro Rugged with accessories totaling over $2k on the foundation of the feature of the smart controller supporting it and what was to come. Did my preorder accordingly. @

@kenautelevo2pro do you view this as acceptable? Even resellers, such as drone-works, still state, "The Autel Smart Controller will support more Autel Robotics aircrafts in the future. " On the page they're taking preorders on. Is that ok too?

 

[Eagle928]

You don’t really understand what End of Life means in the context of a product.

A big part of it is repair parts availability. Autel is making it clear that the radio portion of the V1 drones and controllers will not be manufactured further because they can’t get the parts to do so.

Just because I can get a parts drone or used parts on the secondary market doesn’t negate that. The 1966 Chevy Nova has wide parts availability, but it is most certainly EOL in the eyes of GM.

This is similar to Apple’s CPU transition. How much confidence do you think it would instill in the market for Mac Pros (which are still on Intel) if Apple announced that the next version of macOS would be Apple Silicon only?

Heck, even DJI… the kings of planned obsolescence… kept making parts for the Inspire 1 for more than a year or two after it was released.

I’m not overly angry with this move, but it has shown me that Autel thinks it makes toys rather than professional tools. That’s totally fine and I’ll make my purchase decisions accordingly.

This is REALLY reminiscent of the 3DR Solo for those who were around back then.

From the research I've done; it's not about not being able to get the current chipsets, it's about not being able to get them soon. The soonest might be Q4 of this year or Q1 of 2022.

If an order is put in today the soonest a chip can be made is months away. This is not just a single chip but a chipset so that means more time to manufacture, test, package, and send the end product.

This video more or less explains the issue better than I can.

 

[Cicero24]

Autel blows! They haven’t even worked out all the bugs with the EVO II and it’s already getting put in time out. I knew something was up with the inventory dump and slashed prices. What a joke.

 

[Eagle928]

Autel blows! They haven’t even worked out all the bugs with the EVO II and it’s already getting put in time out. I knew something was up with the inventory dump and slashed prices. What a joke.

It's kinda obvious you've been unhappy with Autel for some time but you do raise a good point I too was thinking about. Their crazy low-ball sale last month makes more sense now. They needed to get rid of much of their inventory at their dealers and their warehouse(s).

There was a lot of wrong guesses as it turns out and they said it was just a Spring sale but now we know why.

It's not too late for Autel Robotics to correct this and I hope they do.

 

[Yodamaster623]

@advexure is demonstrating the proper way to run a business and support the consumers; this is aligned with everyone's interests, and I, for one, say thank you.

Yes they are great to deal with and that is where my smart controller is preordered from and hopefully Autel will consider at least discounting the controller since now they are essentially releasing a product with promise of a bright future and compatibility now has no future The controller specs are great that’s why I was willing to purchase as soon as orders were available but part of that value was using it with my next drone as well let’s see if Autel at least finds some way to resolve / compensate those who purchased with the belief it would work with future versions. Of course the pre order can be cancelled but I still want and need? It for the two drones I’m flying now. So let’s see Autel make this right

 

[mshmovie]

Autel blows! They haven’t even worked out all the bugs with the EVO II and it’s already getting put in time out. I knew something was up with the inventory dump and slashed prices. What a joke.

Emotions are getting an understandable workout here. Let's see if we can help them get back on track to do the right thing for all involved. If not, I fear for our investments and Autel Robotic's future. This is clearly a bad decision and is bad business practice that will erode if not destroy their hard earned market share.

 

[mshmovie]

Yes they are great to deal with and that is where my smart controller is preordered from and hopefully Autel will consider at least discounting the controller since now they are essentially releasing a product with promise of a bright future and compatibility now has no future The controller specs are great that’s why I was willing to purchase as soon as orders were available but part of that value was using it with my next drone as well let’s see if Autel at least finds some way to resolve / compensate those who purchased with the belief it would work with future versions. Of course the pre order can be cancelled but I still want and need? It for the two drones I’m flying now. So let’s see Autel make this right

Autel needs to do better. This is a betrayal (strong word, carefully chosen) of their distributors and customer base.

 

[JTech777]

I'm not one to get involved in angry discussions but I honestly think everyone thats getting upset is jumping to conclusion and assuming the worst. When I first read the announcement I was unhappy too but taking a step back and trying to see the whole picture (which is the same things I tell my children to do in any situation) I can see that it isn't as big of a deal as it seems and won't affect anyone as much as most expect.

There is no reason that they will not honor the warranty for the foreseeable future. The parts will be available for many years to come and are in no way last gen tech, the only issue is the delay in the production.
That being the case if they didn't make the switch it would be much much harder to fulfill the warranty on a any V1 drone or SC do to lack of chips to service those drones.
With them making a V2 it will make it easier for both V1 and V2 owners to get there products serviced and people will not have to wait for production delays.
The only draw back is not all V1 users will get a V1 SC. Other than that it changes nothing. Chances are that anything V3 will be backwards compatible with any version.They never said the V1 wouldn't be compatible with future Autel products after the Evo 2 V2 SC, Live Deck, and Drone.
The V2 from what they said is the exact same thing as V1 except for transmission is a little better.
I don't think they are breaking any promises as the V2 is really no different then the V1 and the Live Deck is the same as well. No one here bought a live deck and a sc before buying the drone so making a V2 affects none of us because none of us would purchase those products anyway.
Like I said the only issue here is the lack of V1 SCs available and that not everyone will get one. I would definitely not cancel my V1 SC order.

Anyway I realize thats kind of all over the place but thats my 2 cents..lol. I hope some of you can make at least a little sense out of it.

 

[mshmovie]

From the research I've done; it's not about not being able to get the current chipsets, it's about not being able to get them soon. The soonest might be Q4 of this year or Q1 of 2022.

If an order is put in today the soonest a chip can be made is months away. This is not just a single chip but a chipset so that means more time to manufacture, test, package, and send the end product.

This video more or less explains the issue better than I can.

Thanks for sharing the video; a good, factual presentation.

I'd like to take us back in time to circa the original IBM PC, PC AT, 386 Chips, etc. These systems did not have in core floating point capabilities; then did their best and performed terribly to do floating point math (working on numbers that had decimal places). The manufacturers equipped the motherboards of the systems with a coprocessor socket so you could opt to add these coprocessors (8087, 80287, 80387) in at a later date and get real floating point capability (chips have these natively now and for quite some time).

• 

How could this design pattern be used as an example today so Autel Robotics can take deliver on the promises of:???

• *Supported Aircrafts EVO II Series EVO II RTK Series EVO II Enterprise
• *The Autel Smart Controller will support more Autel Robotics aircrafts in the future.
• Excerpted from drone-works.com on June 5, 2021 at 21:51 EDT here: Autel Smart Controller
• 

Here's how:

• Scrap v1 and v2 of the controller, they're in breach of contract and will destroy trust and market share.
• v3 will have two chip sets; v1 will be socketed and v2 will be the new chipset:
  • For any preorders: Autel will strive to deliver the controller with the v1 chip in place, if unavailable, you're at the top of the list.
  • To support the new v2 chip set product line: It can proceed and deliver new v2 versions of the Evo II and the smart controller with a vacant V1 socket at a lower price; they can sell the v1 chip to these buyers as an upgrade when available and they will be deprioritized from 1) preorders and 2) v1 platform owners

Subsequent edit:

1. Devention Software defined radio effectively changes a Walkera radio into a radio that has many transmitter/receivers in it in place of the original; this has been done in our space before and I've installed it on my Devo 12S and 6S radios
2. RadioMaster does this now and I'm sure the list is larger.

Thoughts?

 

[mshmovie]

I'm not one to get involved in angry discussions but I honestly think everyone thats getting upset is jumping to conclusion and assuming the worst. When I first read the announcement I was unhappy too but taking a step back and trying to see the whole picture (which is the same things I tell my children to do in any situation) I can see that it isn't as big of a deal as it seems and won't affect anyone as much as most expect.

There is no reason that they will not honor the warranty for the foreseeable future. The parts will be available for many years to come and are in no way last gen tech, the only issue is the delay in the production.
That being the case if they didn't make the switch it would be much much harder to fulfill the warranty on a any V1 drone or SC do to lack of chips to service those drones.
With them making a V2 it will make it easier for both V1 and V2 owners to get there products serviced and people will not have to wait for production delays.
The only draw back is not all V1 users will get a V1 SC. Other than that it changes nothing. Chances are that anything V3 will be backwards compatible with any version.They never said the V1 wouldn't be compatible with future Autel products after the Evo 2 V2 SC, Live Deck, and Drone.
The V2 from what they said is the exact same thing as V1 except for transmission is a little better.
I don't think they are breaking any promises as the V2 is really no different then the V1 and the Live Deck is the same as well. No one here bought a live deck and a sc before buying the drone so making a V2 affects none of us because none of us would purchase those products anyway.
Like I said the only issue here is the lack of V1 SCs available and that not everyone will get one. I would definitely not cancel my V1 SC order.

Anyway I realize thats kind of all over the place but thats my 2 cents..lol. I hope some of you can make at least a little sense out of it.

So, in summary, you are saying you're happy to get a v1 smart controller that was sold with the promise of being forwards compatible with products to come, and pay the same amount despite the fact that it will not work with, for example, the upcoming sub 250 gram product and others to come. Despite the V2 not being able to work with our current Autel Evo IIs and their announcing that the v1 will be limited availability on a first come first serve basis, you don't think Autel is breaking any promises.

Am I missing something or did I paraphrase your understanding of this situation correctly?

Please do read this:


I feel this constitutes breach of contract to anyone that ordered a drone and/or a smart controller premised on future extensibility. V1 and V2 Smart controllers with the lack of cross compatibility and limited V1 supply is a delusional solution, not a real one. A poor business decision worthy of study in an MBA program or executive mentoring program.

 

[jzobel]

You guys think you have it bad? I have the $10,000 Dual model. With a FLIR camera that isn’t any better than the chinese model. And now I don’t even have a gaurentee that I can get a version 1 SC.

 

[JTech777]

So, in summary, you are saying you're happy to get a v1 smart controller that was sold with the promise of being forwards compatible with products to come, and pay the same amount despite the fact that it will not work with, for example, the upcoming sub 250 gram product and others to come. Despite the V2 not being able to work with our current Autel Evo IIs and their announcing that the v1 will be limited availability on a first come first serve basis, you don't think Autel is breaking any promises.

Am I missing something or did I paraphrase your understanding of this situation correctly?

I feel this constitutes breach of contract to anyone that ordered a drone and/or a smart controller premised on future extensibility. V1 and V2 Smart controllers with the lack of cross compatibility and limited V1 supply is a delusional solution, not a real one. A poor business decision worthy of study in an MBA program or executive mentoring program.

Nope you are quite literally missing everything I said.
There is nothing anywhere that says the v1 SC will not be compatible with a sub 250 gram future release. That is what I was saying about assuming and jumping to conclusions based on emotions.
Like I said in my first post, they did not say that the V1 controller would not be compatible with future products AFTER there V2 release. Chances are anything after V2 will be backwards compatible with all Autel products.
You shouldn't be so quick to throw them under the bus because you ***-u-me that they are just going to screw everyone. Chances are they don't want to make the absolute worst choices possible for the future of there company.
Autel is a huge company that produces much much more than just drones and have been around for a very long time anyone that is being rationale would know that they are not going to screw there entire base. But you can be upset and twist words or be as rude as you want. I will be optimistic and as kind as possible and
believe me when I say life is much more pleasant that way.

 

[JTech777]

You guys think you have it bad? I have the $10,000 Dual model. With a FLIR camera that isn’t any better than the chinese model. And now I don’t even have a gaurentee that I can get a version 1

This is the worst thing about this whole issue. Man I'm sorry, that really does suck. But considering all the people making rush judgments and canceling there orders hopefully you will get one.